By Rebecca Barry
Source: NZherald

Nick Carter gave his best blue steel gaze and surveyed the crowd as though he was waiting for the knickers to start flying.

Then he winked and tossed a red rose (sans thorns?) into the sea of out-stretched arms.

It was a gloriously camp boy band moment, one of many during the Backstreet Boys’ fun first show in New Zealand in their 17 years together.

They also serenaded on stools, spun around their mic stands, flirted with the girls in the front row, leapt over the DJ booth and danced up a jazz-hands storm. Rock your body? Yeeah.

Now in their 30s, some of them shacked up with wives and kids, and the charismatic AJ McLean now sporting a touch of middle-aged spread, it was always going to be a test to see if the Boys still had pulling power.

But judging by the surging estrogen levels whenever Howie Dorough or Brian Littrell addressed the crowd, Auckland was more than willing to relive the 90s.

For the full 90 minutes the Boys pulled out hit after cheesy pop hit: Shape of My Heart, I’ll Never Break Your Heart, Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), Straight Through My Heart, (the latter from new album This is Us.)

This was no fancy visual fandango the likes of which can be expected of Lady Gaga this weekend.

The set appeared to have come with them from the 90s, consisting of not much more than a big screen flashing youthful images of their heyday, and multi-tiered platforms for their PVC-clad female back-up dancers to writhe on.

The band still rely on their old stable of choreographed white-man manoeuvres: it’s raining on my face, the lawn mower, side-scissor robot shuffle – and Carter’s fans’ favourite, slowly-remove-jacket-to-show-off-newly-sculpted-arms.

Seriously, you could hardly recognise the guy. Smarmy though he was, his voice soared on ballads such as Incomplete.

His bandmates, minus Kevin Richardson who left in 2006, looked genuinely excited to get such a great reception, and despite some early tuning issues, won over the crowd with some decent harmonising on Show Me The Meaning and proved backstreet’s back alright on the night’s biggest singalongs, Larger Than Life and I Want it That Way.

Where: Vector Arena

Current Mood: annoyed

After a long drive last night, we arrived at Auckland at 6am, and found our hotel key and bed *bliss*

I was meant to hang out with some of the NZBackstreet_fans but given the circumstances of the day (ie, they weren’t returning my texts or phonecalls) and me having a *wah* to Esther (one of the other NZBackstreet_fans) she invited me to hang with her crew.  My lovely chauffeur boyfriend dropped me off to their hotel, and the Backstreet party started!! Wee!!

Me, Janelle, Caira, Esther, Sarah

We rocked up at Vector, and met with the rest of the NZBackstreet_fans. It was lovely to see them all again, I just wish I’d been able to hang out with them earlier.  They went to the soundcheck, which I found out I could have got into for $140 (and would have definitely considered paying this much for an almost private concert lol).  One of the girls gave me an NZ flag, with the idea of hanging them over the barrier  (Once inside we were told we couldn’t, so we just hung onto them instead and waved them around like mad idiots).

We decided to skip the warm-up act… the beauty of having seated tickets. Then there was time for a drink (1x V, 1x bourbon and coke, and 1x margarita – super squee) and into the concert we went! And not to mention the fact that I had a front row ticket, just off to the right of the stage. Thanks Jen! *hugs*

“My Beautiful Woman” in a sea of Kiwi Backstreet fans!

The most annoying thing was that I didn’t bring my camera, even though we were allowed to take them in. But I found out that I wouldn’t have been able to take my super awesome zoom camera in anyway. But then found out that the camera I was given to use had SD, so I could have put my 16GB SD card into that camera instead of the measly 1GB that was in there, and had WAAY more video footage than I got. But oh well!

One thing I was very surprised about was the amount of people there. It wasn’t sold out, but very close to. Especially as there was next to no promotion (thanks Andrew McMannus – the worst band promoter in the universe).  I felt so proud that all of this came together. Especially because during the soundcheck Howie said that they received our petition that we did years back. They still remembered that! How cool! (we even made the news for that!)

The concert itself was very exciting. The boys really are fantastic dances and showmen. Because of this, there was no need for pyrotechnics of special effects to make the concert more. It was more enough on it’s own.  I enjoyed the starting sequence, and the interludes that were made of the boys in famous movies, e.g. Howie in Fast and Furious, Nick in Matrix, AJ in Fight Club, and Brian in Enchanted.  It was so fantastically cheesy!

During the concert, AJ pulled out a SLR Camera, and took photos of the crowd.  I waved my flag at him, and he nodded to say “yeah, I’ll take a piccy of you”, so I posed, and AJ has a photo of me! Wish I could find a copy of it!  Later on, AJ sang to me a few more times, which made me feel uber special!!  Near the end of the concert, one of our girls throw Brain their flag, so he started playing with it, and wrapped it around himself like a cape at one stage. AJ was looking around and I yelled “AJ!” at the top of my lungs. He saw me, and I threw my flag at him. SQUEE!! Then the other girls followed suit, and threw their flags to Howie and Nick. Yay! Four BSB with NZ flags. They better not ever forget us!

That’s right fans, I was *that* close!

Nick, Brian, AJ, and the beautiful dancers. They were amazing.

I really, really want one of those hoodies.

Nick and his Backstreet flag. AJ is just off the the right with mine!

I left with the others straight after the concert. I thought that we were all going to hang out together, so I waited for Esther and her crew to catch up. They decided to go back to their hotel to get dressed to go out, so I tried to get hold of the others, who were staying at Sky City and had gone back to get themselves freshened up.  I called my lovely chauffeur boyfriend to come see me, and he brought my make up and money with him. Hurrah!

Turns out, they still weren’t answering my calls. Janelle (one of Esther’s girls) called me to see where we were at. Boyf and I went to pick her up, and we decided we’d go hang out at the casino and put some money in the pokies. It didn’t take long for my interest in this to dwindle, so Boyf came back and picked me up and we went to the White Lady for some kai. I was so thankful to have some food in my belly (being that I didn’t really have dinner) and to be back at the hotel for sleep!

Current Mood: jubilant

See, I told you BSB were coming!!

Oooh, excitement!! There is a date!!!!!

Source: Stuff.co.nz

American popsters the Backstreet Boys are extending their world tour to New Zealand and Australia, with a gig at Auckland’s Vector Arena on March 11, their publicists said today.

The now not-so-boyish band, who formed in 1993, boast 14 top 40 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 and sold over 100 million albums worldwide – making them among the biggest selling artists of all time.

Their latest album titled This Is Us was released this year and they are now on the European leg of their world tour of the same name.

Current Mood: excited

According to Howie’s twitter update James Hoke Dorough was born at 2:30PM on May6th. He weighed 4.5 pounds and was 161/4 height. All the details at backstreetboys.com

Current Mood: happy

What do you do when you’re a sick Backstreet fan??

Call up AJ, what else? He’ll make you all bedda!!

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Current Mood: amused

Source: People.com

Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough and his wife Leigh, a real estate broker, are expecting their first child in June, they tell PEOPLE exclusively.

“I know she’s going to be a great mother,” says Howie. “If she can take care of me, the biggest baby in the entire world, I think she’s going to be okay with the little one coming along.” Read more…

Current Mood: pleased

Source: OKMagizine

It’s been a trying week for singer Brian Littrell and his family following the hospitalization of his son Baylee and the six-year-old’s subsequent diagnosis with atypical Kawasaki’s Syndrome, an inflammation of the arteries around the heart.

Not only have Brian and his wife Leighanne had to deal with this personal matter, they’ve had to do so in the media spotlight, which often gets details wrong in the rush for a juicy bit of news.

“There were a lot of stories going around, a lot of wrong information on what was going on,” Leighanne tells OK! in an exclusive interview. “I had heard stories that his heart had hardened or people thought he had cancer, and I just didn’t want it to get so blown up.”

But it’s not just the press that’s been wrong with the details of Baylee’s story. According to Leighanne, before doctor’s reached the Kawasaki’s conclusion, the boy had been diagnosed with everything from strep throat to hand, foot and mouth disease.

One small positive thing Leighanne is taking away from the massive media interest in Baylee’s condition is that it’s a chance to educate people about the facts and fictions surrounding Kawasaki’s. “What I’d like to do is talk to some people about what we went through and make parents aware of our steps and actions so that maybe their kid won’t get misdiagnosed.”

Now that Baylee is home for the holidays, the Littrells are attempting to get back to a normal life. “We’ve had probably the craziest six days of our entire life and I hope that that’s the worst it gets,” says Leighanne. “Baylee’s just running around in his Batman costume and he’s feeling so much better and his attitude is fantastic.”

Of course, all this distress has taken its toll on the actual gift-giving part of Christmas, something the Littrells are trying to make up for now. “We’re trying to order a Santa because we’ve been in the hospital for so long,” she tells OK!. “We didn’t get to shop or anything because we were in the hospital so now we’re shopping last-minute for all his family members.”

So what do Brian and Leighanne want to see under their tree on Thursday morning? Just their little boy. “We’re literally thanking every minute of every day because it’s actually the best Christmas present we’ve ever gotten.”

Be sure to pick up the next issue of OK! for the entire story of little Baylee’s battle.

Current Mood: happy

Source: OkMagazine

With his family and Backstreet Boys bandmates in attendance, Howie Dorough said “I do” to his lovely new bride Leigh Boniello at St. James Cathedral in his hometown of Orlando, Fla., on Saturday.

Read more…

Current Mood: cold

I bought the new Backstreet Boys album Unbreakable today, from the Warehouse for $22.95.

I was on my lunch break at work, and as soon as I got in the door, I put it on. I was hanging out with the children having a boogie, and they were dancing too, clearly enjoying it. Go Backstreet Kids! Read more…

Current Mood: bouncy

Snowball the Cockatoo sings and dances to Backstreet’s Back. He does a good job too, keeping mostly in time with the beat and even mimicking some lyrics. Keep the Backstreet Pride Alive Snowball!

[youtube width="400" height="400"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j_fxs8mUcQ[/youtube]

Current Mood: amused